BP has extracted oil worth over £15.4 billion from Iraq since 2011, according to a 2023 report by Declassified. The report reveals that BP’s oil operations in Iraq produced 262 million barrels, despite UK officials previously denying that oil was a motive for the Iraq war.
The British invasion of Iraq, which began in 2003, was declared illegal by the United Nations and led to a humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 655,000 Iraqi deaths within the first three years. Many critics saw the conflict as a war for oil, particularly as Iraq holds the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves.
BP began producing oil in Iraq in 2011, marking its return after nearly four decades. By 2020, BP’s oil output in Iraq surpassed the company’s combined production in Europe, including the North Sea.
The company’s operations in Iraq are based on technical service contracts (TSCs), where Iraq retains ownership of the oil, while BP earns a fixed service fee per barrel. BP invested heavily in the Rumaila oil field, a project jointly operated with the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and the Iraqi government.
Despite efforts to privatise Iraq’s oil sector through production-sharing agreements (PSAs) during the Bush administration, political dynamics in Iraq prevented the passage of such a law. Instead, foreign companies like BP operate under the TSC model.
The close relationship between BP and Tony Blair’s government during the Iraq war led to the term “Blair Petroleum” being used humorously at the time, reflecting suspicions about the role of oil in the conflict.
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